Description

The Lightning F.6 is a rank VI British jet fighter
with a battle rating of 10.0 (AB/RB) and 9.7 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics

Max Speed(km/h at 12,192 m)

Max altitude(metres)

Turn time(seconds)

Rate of climb(metres/second)

Take-off run(metres)

AB

RB

AB

RB

AB

RB

Stock

2,215

2,200

16 000

27.9

28.2

150.7

141.4

850

Upgraded

2,387

2,290

24.4

26.0

195.3

172.0

Details

Features

Combat flaps

Take-off flaps

Landing flaps

Air brakes

Arrestor gear

Drogue chute

X

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Limits

Wings (km/h)

Gear (km/h)

Flaps (km/h)

Max Static G

Combat

Take-off

Landing

+

-

1324

463

N/A

720

463

~10

~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)

Ailerons

Rudder

Elevators

Radiator

< 850

< 700

< 700

N/A

Engine performance

Engine

Aircraft mass

Engine name

Number

Basic Mass (no fuel)

Wing loading (full fuel)

Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.302

2

14,092 kg

437 kg/m2

Engine characteristics

Mass with fuel (no external load)

Max TakeoffWeight

Weight (each)

Type

5m fuel

18m fuel

1,310 kg

Afterburning axial-flow turbojet

15,353 kg

18,632 kg

19,000 kg

Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB / SB)

Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)

Condition

100%

WEP

5m fuel

18m fuel

MTOW

Stationary

5,620 kgf

7,390 kgf

0.96

0.79

0.78

Maximum

5,700 kgf

7,400 kgf

0.96

0.79

0.78

Survivability and armour

In line with its role as a high-performance interceptor aircraft the Lightning F.6 has no armoured plating or bulletproof glass, such additions would have increased the weight of the aircraft, while offering no real benefit for it's intended role.

Most of the inside of the wings (including the flaps) consists of fuel tanks, fuel is also stored in the ventral tank. The top engine is mounted above and to the rear of the bottom engine, this leaves it exposed to enemy fire; on the flip side the bottom engine is shielded from enemy fire by the top engine and wing fuel tanks, this makes is surprisingly resilient to damage, it is not uncommon for it to even continue functioning after the aircraft has been hit by a missile (although the rest of the aircraft will be well and truly broken afterwards).

The large belly tank and high wings of the Lightning mean it is able to survive belly landings very well.

Suspended armament

Usage in battles

In combined battles, pilots of the Lightning F.6 may find themselves unable to deal much damage against ground vehicles, especially without the use of rockets, anti-tank missiles, or bombs. As such, this fighter is better suited to dealing with enemy air targets such as helicopters, which are plentiful at the Lightning's battle rating.

Although it faces challenges there, air realistic battles are where the Lightning truly belongs. The F.6 is able to use its Red Top missiles to dispatch enemies from a distance. Best practice with the missiles is to fire when there is about a 1.5 km gap between the F.6 and the enemy aircraft. This gap gives the missile time to lock on its target and track the enemy. One downside to the Red Tops is that they are not particularly fast compared to other missiles at its tier and may have trouble manoeuvring to catch an enemy aircraft travelling at top speed.

The Lightning F.6 handles well at subsonic speeds, although dogfights at those speeds are not common at this battle rating. Flying slowly leaves the pilot vulnerable to nearby enemies. Among those enemies may be the MiG-21 F-13, which the Lightning can often out-dogfight and the F-4C, which the Lightning has an extremely difficult time trying to out-dogfight. The Lightning just doesn't have the energy retention that the Phantom does.

Keeping this in mind, it is advised that pilots use this plane as part of a team, rather than as an attempted solo carry. It is recommended that they climb to higher altitude early on in the match and by gaining as much energy as possible before dumping it in dogfight manoeuvres.

Enemy planes that the Lightning F.6 is well-suited to take on in a fight are the Mitsubishi T-2, the F-100D, and the Mig-19s of all variants.

Pros and cons

Red Top missiles have good seeker gimballing, high-G overload, and an all-aspect capability with radar lock-on (slaving)

Armed with a pair of powerful ADEN cannons

Good climb rate and acceleration

Cons:

A large target for enemy aircraft to target

Pulls a high angle of attack and loses speed in turns

Below average roll rate

Limited armament selection, shoehorned more into an air-to-air combat role

Below-average climb rate

Relatively low top speed (1,280 km/h IAS at sea level)

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

The Shooting Range #191 - Pages of History section at 04:56 discusses the Lightning F.6.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example: